Exam #1 Flashcards
Bicameral Congress means…
Two level congress….House of Reps and Senate
What is the Size of Each house of congress
House of Reps: 435 Senate: 100
What is the Apportionment of the Electoral Districts?
Single member districts with 710,000 Represented by 1
Terms of Office
Senate: 6 years
HOR: 2 Years
What are the endogenous institutions of the congress
- Rules of Conduct within congress
- committees created within the congress
- jerrymandering
- Electoral rules
What are the Exogenous institutions of the Congress
- The US Constitution
- Judicial review
Why is he constitution semi-exogenous?
Because it can be amended by the congress if 2/3rds agree and the states ratify it.
What is divided government? When it is most likely to occur/
When the Congress majority and the President are from opposing parties. Most likely to occur at midterm election
What are vanishing marginals and what are some of the causes?
A marginal seat is one that is in danger of being taken from its current occupant. These are disappearing because of ideological polarism happening within the districts and the lack of serious challengers to well established candidates due to the incumbency advantage
Are the political parties becoming more polarized or more overlapping ideologically?
More polarized
Describe the collective dilemmas?
Coordination problem: Everyone benefits from choosing the same course of action but disagree and what course of action is the best.
Free Rider Problem: people benefiting from things they didn’t contribute to (multi-person version of Prisoners dilemma)
Tragedy of the commons: Everyone cares about own self interest and that makes things worse for everyone all around.
list some of the problems with the articles of confederation?
No executive Delegates elected by state legislatures States could recall reps at any time Each state only got one vote 9 of 13 states required to make a law
Collective dilemmas cause by the Articles of Confederation
- Currency
- War Debts
- Public Order (Shays Rebellion)
- External security: Invasion from a foreign power
- Consent based government
What are the powers given to the Legislative branch and Where do they appear?
Located in Article 1 of the Constitution:
- Lay and collect taxes
- Borrow money on the credit of the US
- Regulate commerce with foreign nations
- establish laws of naturalization and bankruptcy
- Coin money
- establish Post offices and roads
- Patents
- define and punish for piracy and felonies
- to declare war
- raise and support armies and navies
- calling forth of the militia
- to make laws
What are some of the restrictions on congress
- Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended
- no bills of attainder
- no ex post facto laws
- No taxes on good exported from any state
- no preferential treatment of any state or port
- no title of nobility
Why is the house more formal and have more rules than the senate?
the difference in number of members creates a need for more rules and formality in the house to maintain order and structure
What are the sources of endogenous and exogenous institutions in the congress
endogenous: They make their own rules/ committees
Exogenous: Constitution
Virginia Plan vs. New Jersey Plan vs. Great Compromise
VIRGINIA PLAN: Representation Based on Population (Smaller States hated it because they felt under represented-large states would control vote)
NEW JERSEY PLAN: Representation was equal across the board (Large states hated it because they felt underrepresented and that the smaller states could gang up on them in votes)
CONNECTICUT DEAL(GREAT COMPROMISE): The House would be based on population and the senate would have equal representation.
dual Roles of Congress and how do they come into conflict
Representation role and law making role. They come into conflict when the representative must vote against his constituency in order to maintain the comes into
How might Gerrymandering cause an increase in party polarization?
(Toobbin) a state that has been redistricted to favor one party will not have many challengers from the opposing party in the primary. therefore, in order for the candidates from the same party to distinguish themselves and gain more support they become more extreme.
What ended malapportionment?
- A series of Supreme court cases( baker vs Carr and Gray vs. Sanders) caused the supreme court to create the “one person, one vote” rule to all state legislatures and the US HOR
- The voting rights act: helped African Americans exercise their right to vote under 15th amendment
What is the incumbency advantage and what does it entail?
- Franking privileges
- Credit Claiming
- Easier access to media
- Voting Record
difference between malapportionment and gerrymandering…
malapportionment gives one group more voting power than another by having a smaller group than another represented by one person.
gerry mandering is keeping the population apportionment even but dividing the districts in a way that will favor their party
What does Y= (PB)-C stand for and what is the outcome?
Calculus for running for office (Y) = Probability of victory X Benefits of holding office - the costs
HOR Requirements, election cycle, apportionment rules
25 years old 7 years Citizen Must inhabit state represented 2 years each rep represents 710,000 people
Senate Requirements and election cycle, and apportionment
30 yrs old
9 years Citizen
inhabit the state
Benefits of congressional limits
Turnover produces MC ‘s more in touch with district
Costs of congressional Term limits
Lose experienced people
their last term they stop caring about constituency because they aren’t seeking reelection
Different constituencies (Fenno)
Geographical: The district as a whole
Re-election constituency- People who will vote for them
Primary Constituency: Strongest supporters
Personal: Close Friends
How dies the perception of their district impact their behavior
- Allocation of Resources: Trips home, staff in district, etc.
- Presentation of self: Person to Person or issue oriented
- explanation of DC activity: Credit claiming, voting explanations
Does members vary in bashing congress as an institution?
No, they want to set themselves apart from the institution.
Do MC’s tend to vary on explanation for voting in DC
No they respond the same to all inquiries the same.
what specific items in the constitution limits the ability of factions to dominate politics and protects minority rights?
A republic- Indirect representation
Bill of rights- Specifically
5th amendment
14th amendment
How does the constitution protect citizens rights against federal abuses of power?
-Separation of powers/Checks and balances in government creation
10th amendment- division of powers
Why did the founders percieve the need for separate origin of the branches of government?
Government that originated from the same place (elections) could create a tyranny of the majority within the government and undermine the purpose of the separation powers
Name all the sections of article 1
1-legislature 2- the house 3- the senate 4- elctions,meetings 5-membership, rules, journals, adjournment 6- compensation 7-Revenue bills, legislative process and presidential veto 8- Powers of congress 9-limits on congress 10- limits on states
what variables dictate whether a rep will seek higher office?
- An Open Seat (No incumbent)
- overlap of his old and new district
- how many districts are in the state (the states population)
- If they are a “risk taker”
